Cuchulainn and Senbecc, grandson of Ebrecc

enbecc grandson of Ebrecc, from the side, came from the plain of Segais seeking imbas [ supernatural enlightenment], and Cuchulainn encountered him upon the River Boyne. Cuchulainn captured him, and he explained that he had come looking for the fruit of the nuts of a fair-bearing hazel. There are nine fair-bearing hazels from whose nuts he got imbas: it used to drop into the wells, so that the stream bears the imbas into the Boyne. Then Senbecc sang to him some of his lore, and a song:

I am not a lad, I am not a man,
I am not a child in learning.
The mysteries of God have made me gifted.
I am Abcan, a sage of learning, a poet from Segais.
Senbecc is my name, Ebrecc's grandson from the side.

Then Senbecc offered great rewards to Cuchulainn for letting him go free, and Cuchulainn would not grant it. Then he stretched out his hand to his harp. He played him a wailing-strain, so that he was wailing and lamenting; he played him a laughing-strain so that he was laughing; and finally he played him a sleeping-strain so that he cast him into slumber. Then Senbecc escaped down the Boyne in a bronze boat.